Smith, Vernon Lomax, 1927–, American economist, b. Wichita, Kans., Ph.D. Harvard, 1955. He has taught at Purdue Univ. (1955–67), the Univ. of Massachusetts (1968–75), the Univ. of Arizona (1975–2001), George Mason Univ. (2001–8), and Chapman Univ. (2008–). A pioneer in experimental economics, Smith used laboratory experiments involving people to study economic decision-making, an unusual approach among economists in the early 1960s. He focused on simulations that involved trading and bargaining, and his work led to insights on how the decisions people make differ from what theory then predicted. He has also studied industrial organization, property rights, and neuroeconomics. Smith shared the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Daniel Kahneman for his work on experimental economics.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Economics: Biographies
